Number One Fan
by Fibre Optic
Summary: In which Clint has an admirer, but she's not quite the age group he was hoping to attract.
1. Chapter 1

_This was originally written as a fill on the kinkmeme, but I can't find the thread to post the final chapter there. I think it will be posted here in three parts. It's backed up and completed, so I'm only holding out because I'm a review whore. Please let me know if you enjoy it :)_

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Every muscle is pulled tight. Fingers clasp around the bow, hold it steady.

A breeze blows, stronger due to the altitude. He stays frozen in place, crouched at the building's edge. It's getting dark now, and his target likes the dark.

"Barton, you see anything?"

The crackling of the comm in his ear does little to break his concentration. "Nothing yet, Cap. He'll be in soon though."

"Roger that."

Clint's fingers twitch with anticipation, ready for this.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

As predicted, forty-three minutes later it appears on the horizon. A dark surfboard shaped vessel, the familiar sillhouette of the Goblin crouched on top, steering it around buildings, thinking he's stealthy. Clint grins. "I've got a shot at him, guys. Want me to take it?"

"Might as well," Stark says. "I can't creep up on him in the dark."

"Cap?" Clint inquires.

"Take the shot, Hawkeye," Steve confirms.

He waits a split second, tracking the Goblin as he meanders between buildings, unaware he's being watched. Like a coiled spring, Clint's muscles release. In a matter of seconds there are three, seven, twelve arrows flying towards the Goblin. Each one hits its mark.

The Green Goblin falls from the sky, arching like a cat in his attempt to grab back onto his board before he hits the ground.

Clint stands up and adjusts his quiver, holds his bow by his side and turns away from the building edge just as the loud crash and screech of crumpling metal fills the air.

"Got him, Cap."

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

They don't know where she came from, but when Steve goes to apprehend the Goblin on the ground he's got a hostage. She can't be more than six, and large brown eyes bulge with alarm as the Goblin holds a piece of jagged metal to her throat.

"Let the girl go," Steve's voice is low, dangerous, "and there won't be any more trouble here."

Iron Man stands a few feet to Steve's left, watching the scene unfold through the expressionless blue eyes of his mask. He's already been warned – the first sound of those repulsors firing up, and the girl bleeds out.

He can only watch.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Barton's advantage is his stealth.

The Goblin doesn't seem realize he's been shot until his hand shakes violently, sending his weapon clattering to the ground. A few seconds later, he crumples like a crushed soda can and stays there, immobile.

The girl stands where she is for a moment. Steve tries to coax her, but she backs up and he wisely decides not to press it. The media will be on the scene in seconds anyway, they'll be flooded with medics and the girl will be taken care of.

But then she turns on her heel and runs for the shadows behind the Goblin's lifeless body. Tony makes to move, the suit whirring into action as he starts to locate her, but Steve stops him with a sharp, "Tony!"

Clint emerges from the shadows seconds later, the girl stuck to his side with both arms wrapped around his torso. He keeps one arm on her back to move her forward, and looks at Iron Man and Captain America with an unmistakable 'laugh-and-you're-dead' expression.

Steve smiles.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

"This is getting ridiculous," Clint comments blandly, as the medics try to talk the young girl into letting go of the archer's legs.

"Come on, Mr Hotshot, surely you're used to the ladies falling over you," Tony remarks with a smirk.

They're standing behind an open ambulance, flooded with lights from the predicted influx of news reporters and police officers on the scene. If this was a regular night, they'd be gone by now. Clint's new friend, however, is making their usual hasty retreat difficult.

"Can you tell us your name?" One of the paramedics asks her for what has to be the hundredth time.

She looks at the paramedic briefly, then cowers behind Clint's leg once more, flat-out refusing to release her tight fisted hold on his uniform.

Tony snorts, and Clint glares. He knows he could easily remove the kid himself, but she seems so damn scared on her own. Clint wants her gone, wants to be able to go back to the mansion and shower, maybe raid the fridge before hitting the sack.

He looks back down at her, a quivering blonde bundle in a light blue summer dress, attached to his leg for dear life and casting worried, wide-eyed looks at the media and medics that surround them.

He decides that as soon as her parents show up, he's done here.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Her name is Emma, and she's from a nearby state-funded boarding school. Her mother died last year. They don't know who her father is, but it's presumed he wasn't involved. She had come out tonight to watch the Avengers, her favourite heroes, fighting the Green Goblin.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Once they've gotten the basic information from her, it's a matter of minutes before the head honcho of her school shows up to take her. She screams high-pitched screams, sobs her heart out and has to be physically dragged away from her heroes, who look on unsurely.

As her principal carries her away, she looks over her shoulder at Clint. He gives her a two-fingered salute, and she returns it clumsily through her tears.


	2. Chapter 2

_One more chapter and we're done here. I'd love to know what you think. Thanks so much for the support so far, you guys rock! :) _

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"Hey, Barton!"

Clint glances down from the ceiling, where he's been sitting in the rafters for the last thirty minutes.

"We've got a problem."

"What kind?"

"The get-your-ass-down-here-and-fix-it kind," Tony says.

Clint rolls his eyes, but obediently swings down from the ceiling. He lands in a crouch and rolls his shoulders as he straightens up.

Tony leads him to the main entrance to the mansion and types the code to open the doors into a holographic pad.

The door springs open, and Tony says, "good luck" as he walks away.

Emma stands outside the door, wearing a cream coloured dress with a yellow and pink flower motif, and bright orange flip-flops. She toes the ground with one foot and swings her tightly clasped hands behind her back as she stares bashfully at Clint.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Natasha is first aware of her teeny tiny competition when she walks into the living room and sees Clint kneeling at eye-level with Emma, explaining gently why she can't come over to the mansion, though he is impressed at her ability to bypass security.

She asks if that means he will visit her, and he falters, looking to Natasha for help. Even the Russian spy can't encourage him to let the kid down, but she knows it's not safe for the child either. So she butts in, the firm voice of reason, and though Emma looks like she wants to cry, she keeps a stiff upper lip about it.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Months pass, and Clint has almost forgotten about the entire fiasco.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Because he's Tony Stark, and he has spun an entire career around being an ass, he makes it his business to ensure Clint can't forget.

The story has been passed around the tower constantly, but Bruce just seems to find it charming and Steve, having been Captain America during World War Two, understands the feeling of having small children look up to you. He gives Clint a pep talk over breakfast one day about the importance of being an icon, and that's that.

Then one day in late February, there's a knock at the door. Bruce answers it, looking around in confusion for a moment before his eyes drop down to their little guest. He knows who it is straight away, and smiles as he politely invites her inside.

Her blonde hair is tied back in a loose ponytail, and this time she's wearing jeans with embroidered flowers and a long sleeved shirt with a cat stitched on the front. In her hands she clutches a pink envelope with "Hawk EyE" printed across it in glittery gel pen.

Clint is upstairs, but looks horrified when Bruce calls him down to collect his Valentines day card.

Tony finds the card later, after Emma has been escorted back home, and photocopies it. Prints show up all over the mansion, and that evening JARVIS does a dramatic reading.

"_To Hawkeye,_" the AI reads, "_You are my most favourite out of all of the Avengers, and I love you very much. I would be happy if you would come out with me or be my boyfriend. I drew you a picture of us having a picnic together. I love you loads. Lots of love from Emma. Ex ex ex ex -_"

"Okay Jarvis, we get the point," Clint snaps.

Bruce is smiling into his hand, pretending to jot notes in a pad across the room, and Thor, who has recently returned from Asgard to visit, is beaming.

"I am most pleased for you, Agent Barton," he declares. "Do you intend to accept this fine young lady's marriage request?"

Clint sits atop the bookshelves in the corner of the room and glowers.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

"Agent Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye of The Avengers, has recently been photographed with a child and speculation is rife as to whether or not it's -"

Clint walks into the room, switches off the TV and ignores the glares of Tony and Natasha. "Nope."

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Emma visits for the better part of a year. She gets by Tony's security so often that he takes an interest in her. Many days Clint has walked in to find that his own personal cheerleader is in deep discussion with Stark about the many methods of bypassing the alarm triggers outside.

It is a full eight months before Clint realizes that Stark is the one who has arranged for her to be allowed to leave the school at all, under the Avengers supervision. "Just to watch you suffer," he claims when Clint confronts him about it.

But one day Clint walks into the kitchen only to find Stark in the middle of helping to build a small remote-control car, an enthusiastic Emma sitting across from him and nodding to his simplified instructions.

"I draw the line at teaching my mascot how to make bombs," he leans over Emma's shoulder to get a better look at the mini-vehicle, and tries to not roll his eyes when she blushes. "Good job, kid," he says, ruffling her hair before continuing through the room.

Tony smirks over his shoulder at him, and Clint flips him the bird, but can't fight a smile.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

"I feel like we've sort of adopted a puppy," Bruce admits over breakfast one morning.

Clint leans against the counter, downing coffees like he may never have it again. He glances over the rim of his cup at Bruce and raises an eyebrow.

"With Emma," he elaborates. "Just how she sort of followed one of us home and started hanging around."

"That...makes a lot more sense than it should," Clint shrugs a shoulder and sits his empty cup in the sink. "You had your definitive bonding moment with the pest yet?"

Bruce smiles. "We watch Sesame Street together."

"Did you show her your episo-"

"So I hear she wants to have your hand in marriage," Bruce interrupts loudly, his smile morphing into a teasing smirk. "You saving yourself?"

Clint narrows his eyes, but his lips quirk into a grin. "Well played, Banner. Well played."


	3. Chapter 3

_Finished. It's been pointed out to me that there are no proper one-on-one moments between Clint and Emma, so there might be a spin-off of this story to show Clint and Emma having some fluffy/cutesy shenanigans together. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed this and I thank you all so much for reviewing and favouriting. If you liked it, please let me know. I hope you enjoy the final installment. Enjoy, guys!_

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As the child gets older – and it really happens faster than any of them can comprehend – her visits become less.

"Exams," she tells them, smiling a smile that was all teeth save for a small gap where she'd lost one. "They make us take them now."

"Because you're getting older and smarter," is always Tony's reply, before sitting down with her to watch Mythbusters. There is precious little time to build robots these days.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Clint is sitting in the rec room one day, legs stretched across the length of the couch and head cushioned against the arm, when Emma walks in looking troubled.

"Clint," she says, chewing at her lower lip when he looks at her. "Is it true that you shoot people."

It's a question he never expected her to have to ask, given the nature of their introduction. Without thinking, he nods. "You knew that."

"But with a gun," she says, desperate. "You don't shoot with a gun, do you? You use a bow and arrow. Like Robin Hood."

He understands, but doesn't know how to reply. He dislikes the idea of lying to children just to spare their feelings, but this child has captured his attention these last months like none before her ever had. Her innocence has charmed him, and he doesn't want to break it.

"Of course I don't use a gun," he lies. "Who told you that?"

She looks relieved as she says, "A boy in my class. He told me you shoot the bad guys with guns."

"He's confusing me with Natasha," he says, waving a hand as he sits up straight and makes room on the couch. "You want to watch TV?"

She sits beside him delightedly, and for her sake he remains silent when she chooses to watch Prince of Thieves on Netflix.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

"You have to return her to the pound," Nick Fury says. "Or wherever the hell you got her."

Clint frowns at the implication of Emma being a dog, despite the fact that he and Bruce often refer to her affectionately as a stray. "I didn't pick her up, sir," he says honestly. "She followed us home."

"You live in one of the most highly guarded buildings in America."

"She bypassed security," he replies. There's a strange feeling of pride as he says that, as if she's his to be proud of. "But Stark just lets her in now."

"Well tell him to stop," Fury orders. "It's all over the news, her face is getting recognised. Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Clint drops his gaze. He does know, and he has tried. The damn kid is like velcro, she's stuck to his side so much that somewhere along the way, he lost sight of why he was trying to keep her at bay in the first place. He raises his eyes to meet Fury's, and gives a brief nod. "Yes, sir."

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

She makes three more visits over the span of two months before Clint has the heart to sit her down and explain, properly this time, why she can't keep coming.

It's been a year, and she's gone from the shy and frightened six year old bundle to an intelligent, outgoing seven year old girl. Though they all are guilty of allowing her to stay despite the risks, it can't be denied that she's benefitted from her time with them.

Clint pulls no punches this time in his explanation. He is straight with her, borderline brutal as he tells her what he does, the consequences of his work to those around him. She asks if he has another girlfriend, and he can't help but laugh as he tells her that no, there's no one romantic in his life.

Though her eyes have found the floor and her lower lip is quivering, she doesn't cry or interrupt again. Clint finds that having this talk, straightforward as it is, is one of the most difficult things he has ever had to do.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Stark misses the kid.

They all do, in their own way. Bruce lingers a second too long on the cartoon channel while he's watching TV, and Thor seems put out when no one compliments the velvet shine of his cape when he returns to earth. Even Natasha, for all her complaining about the hazards that Emma presented, comments on how quiet the place seems without her.

For his part, Clint is mostly silent on the matter. He continues as usual, saving the world and eating take-out and lounging around the mansion with his team, but his heart isn't in it.

He's glad the kid is gone, even as the guilt stabs him viciously for admitting it. It's the manner in which she left, being practically thrown out by the one Avenger she had adored so much, that keeps his mood from rising.

"She doesn't think of it that way," Bruce assures him when he voices these concerns. "As far as she's concerned, you're the be-all and end-all of her world. She couldn't think negatively of you if she tried."

Somehow, it doesn't help.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

It's more of a mob looking type than a superhero, but Clint is no less willing to put several arrows through his heart when the man alerts the media to the fact that he has a hostage.

Emma isn't crying in the video they show – since the first time they met, Clint doesn't think she ever has – but her eyes are bloodshot and her voice is shaky when the man behind the camera demands she state her name.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

"Keep calm, Hawkeye," Steve warns. "We want these guys alive."

Clint shifts enough that the collar of his suit brushes against the comm in a static-like sound, then claims he didn't hear that last command.

He is sitting on the rail of a balcony, with a birds eye view of the street below. There are three men, all with a superhuman bulk and purple tinge to their skin, doing battle with Thor and Iron Man. He's already taken aim, and it takes less than five seconds before he's sent three arrows soaring towards his targets.

As if rehearsed, the purple-tinged men fall one at a time, left to right, as Clint's arrows hit each squarely in their meaty necks.

"Clint!" Steve sounds angrier than Clint's heard him in a long time. "I told you not to shoot!"

"Sorry, Cap. You're breaking up." Clint switches off his comm and hops off the rail, landing ten feet onto the balcony below and rolling to a stop,

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

Going into the building with no back-up is a bad idea and it's asking for trouble.

Clint doesn't care. He takes out the hired muscle without breaking a sweat, ducking their hits and breaking their necks without even pretending to engage in combat. He's on a mission.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

She's in a room on her own when he finds her, tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Her eyes light up when she sees him.

He pulls the gag down and pretends not to notice that she's vomited on herself as he unties her wrists and ankles. As soon as she's free she twists in her seat to wrap her arms around his waist, and the sound of her quietly sobbing into his suit ignites a rage in him that he didn't know he could still possess.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

The girl in the room was a predictable trap and Clint doesn't bother pretending to be surprised when the man behind the kidnapping appears in the doorway with two goons, smirking and ready to goad Hawkeye with his victory.

He doesn't get time. Clint's bow is on his back but he pulls two blades from his belt and throws them across the room. Both goons receive a blade to the left eye, and it takes them a few moments to die.

Emma screams and hides behind the chair when the mob boss, in a fit of blind panic and fury, launches himself at Clint.

There is a brief tussle during which Clint is nicked across the face with a blade, before the archer finally gets his arms up around the man's neck. He doesn't let go until the mobster has stopped struggling, his eyes glazed over.

Emma screams and backs away when Clint tries to get her.

His heart sinks as he switches the comm back on and calls for backup.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV~**_

She seems quite happy to let Iron Man fly her from the building, but she doesn't speak when he drops her outside an open ambulance. The media circus is already surrounding the building that Clint alone had infiltrated.

It's so reminiscent of the first time they met Emma that even the child notices. Nobody says anything when her principal comes to fetch her, but she understands more than they do.

Wordlessly, she approaches Iron Man first. She reaches one hand out and hesitantly, Tony holds out one repulsor-clad hand in return. She shakes it like an adult, and says, "Thank you."

Tony seems at a loss, but it doesn't matter. She's already moved on to Thor, shaking his hand too. She makes her away around them, shaking each of their hands and thanking them in turn, until she reaches Clint.

All eyes are on them, curious as to whether her obvious favourite will get the same treatment. Instead, she reaches up with both hands, and it is then that her age shows through her maturity. Clint reaches down and lifts her, and she wraps both arms around his neck in a hug that he knows he does not deserve.

There are tears in her eyes when he sets her back down, the first he's seen from her in over a year. As her principal comes and takes her hand to lead her away, she doesn't argue.

When she is a little bit away from them, she stops and looks over her shoulder, meets Clint's eyes without trouble. She offers him a two-finger salute, and with a small smile, Clint returns the gesture.

_**Fin.**_


End file.
